Mark,

I do mostly residential jobs and I have been using the Challenger machine with great success. On very few occassions I have come across stains on high traffic areas that I couldn't remove with either a spotter (AVENGE from Bridgestone) or with Orbit Natural and Rug restore. What advise can you give me ? I have read that you use a couple of other machines (CIMEX and ORBITEC) but at this point I cannot afford to invest in addtional equipment. Also, If I come across some opportunities on commercial business will the Challenger be enough?
Thanks,

Gus,

If you can't afford additional equipment, the Challenger will have to be enough. I might take you longer, but it's possible. The Challenger is the only machine I have and I've done commercial, one commercial job took me three days but I did it.
Maybe you have the funds to invest in synthetic pads, encap juice, and encap brush to help speed things up on the commercial side. Check out Vackaway products, they offer a free sample http://vacaway.com/samplepack/

By "stains", do you mean a spot or something, or do you mean the dingier appearance of an entire traffic lane area?

The dingier appaerance in general Mark...

I have used Z-Bomb on some high traffic areas and deep down soil loaded carpets. It has a dwell time of 15 minutes. That dirt came right up. It was awesome.

Another product that I have experimented with is Procyon. It is a sample that A local HWE supplier gave me to try. It has a dwell time of 10 minutes. It took out some heavy traffic lane and entry way dirt to a bathroom pretty well. The only thing you have to be careful of is to not overspay it. It will foam up!

Good Luck!

Thanks Jerry....Where can I get the Z Bomb?

You can get Z Bomb from Steve at Vacaway www.vacaway.com. His service and products are great!

Brian

I say try the Z-Bomb. Think I'll order some.

I use either encap green 6 oz in a 32 oz bottle or Bi-O Kleen spray and wipe cleaner if you want to go all natural. Works "almost" as well as cyclone HWE, which I prefer to z-bomb.

Does the cylone HWE work better than z-bomb at traffic lanes and heavy soil loads? I use cyclone for spot removal and it works awesome!

I use ENC DS with a heavy spike of z-bomb as a last resort on bad traffic lanes. The other thing I do is take my cheapo steamer and give it a blast of steam just before cleaning to heat up the outsolv pre-spray, It works real well. I plan to try Grants method of using a heavy mix of encap green as soon as I get some more of it. I hope it will do the trick because z-bomb has some harsh chems in it.

I just today went back to a house where I didn't quite finish the job about a week ago - a townhouse with fairly deep pile, pure white carpeting with a noticeable traffic lane from the kitchen out into the liv. rm./din. rm. area. In a situation like this, I always advise the customer that the traffic lane may not, after cleaning, look quite as pure white as the rest of the place. When I left, I really couldn't tell what the outcome was going to be.
When I went back there today, the customer was telling me how thrilled she was that all the carpet, including the traffic lane, came out looking the same - nice & white and clean.

I had done the job with Vacaway's Encap-Green alone, mixed at the standard dilution of 4 oz. per gallon of water. I did give the traffic lane a vigorous pre-scrub with one of the green-striped nylon scrubber pads, then finished up with terrycloth.